25 years ago, Redman appeared on EPMD's album Business as Usual and hip-hop was introduced to one of its eternal characters. Collaborations with everyone from Christina Aguilera to Method Man and a leading role in the stoner classic How High may have imprinted the Def Jam man onto the American conscious, but he's never been someone so readily defined.
"I started out as DJ first before I was a rapper, so I understand all genres of music. I've never boxed myself in to just be that boom-bat rapper that rock over hard beats," Redman tells THUMP. "I can rock over anything and make it sound good. I can tap into any field and do it right. That's being a true musician and a true artist. I love it."
It was a chance meeting with trapstyle producer Jayceeoh that brought Redman into the world of dance music. "I met Jay in Croatia," he explains. "We were by the pool at the hotel and he played me some heat through the phone. You know, I've always wanted to tap into that area of music so I figured if I'm going to do it, I might as well do it with someone that knows what he's doing."
"It was pretty surreal at first honestly," Jayceeoh laughs. "Redman has been one of my favorite artists since I got into hip-hop and DJing. When it got to the point where we were having regular phone calls and he was coming over to my crib to record, it was totally crazy. When I am kicking it with Redman, I feel like I'm in a scene from 'How High', just no cameras around."
The story goes that DJ Snake was initially looking to sample Redman for the late-trapstyle classic "Turn Down for What?" but got stuck up in all the red tape at Def Jam and it never happened. Jayceeoh and Redman's collaboration (alongside Jay Psar), titled "Turn Me Up Some," is Redman making good on what could have been.
Jayceeoh explains the process: For "Turn Me Up Some," I pretty much had the track laid out and sections where I wanted Red to freestyle and hype the track up. It is a hype/party song, so it didn't call for full verses. We are working on a project likely to be released early next year with full songs. In the studio, Red's like "Aiight Jay, I trust you man, lets get it poppin." So I have Redman on some shit that y'all would never expect."
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Redman is on Facebook // Twitter
Redman is on Facebook // Twitter